Challenging for Equity above all

#ImpeachDWP

Today I came across two articles, once again calling into question the behaviour of Politicians and Government Departments when using statistics; it is clear from these that “Once again, DWP has shown itself to be a master in statistics manipulation and in the use of selective figures” this was on sanctions; and on pay and living costs “an act of statistical trickery to change the landscape of pay bargaining in the UK for the worse.”

This persistent misuse of data and the ensuing Spin’ fed to the media by the likes of IDS, is precisely what we have been saying this for the past 2 years; and it is the reason for our petition TO: KATHRYN HUDSON PARLIAMENTARY COMMISSIONER FOR STANDARDS to :

“Use the full Powers of the Commission and investigate Iain Duncan Smith Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, for his regular use of untruths and the persistent deception misleading of The House of Commons, Select Committees and the Media”

If this isn’t enough to convince you it is time for the people to respond, the Guardian’s editorial today produced their view on Welfare Reform – their verdict “In Dire Straits” ; this is summarised with the opinion “Mr Duncan Smith’s department is in clear breach of commitments it has given, and the sanction is upheld“.

With only 80 days left to the Election, Time is Running Out‘; Debbie & I have be slogging at our Truth Campaign for almost two years!! And our latest stage is a petition to Kathryn Hudson, the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards demanding Iain (Duncan) Smith be investigated for his Lies.

I say Time is running out because who knows if IDS will actually Be a Politician come May 7 and, even if he is re-elected, will he be Minister for Work & Pensions after this date?

This is why it is imperative we get as many signatures as possible, currently 5,346 people have signed but we need many more than this, to even get mentioned in the press.

So, this is a plea to everyone that reads this, if you haven’t yet signed, please do…but I guess more importantly, please make it your mission to get at least one other person to sign as well.

This is possibly our LAST Chance to hold IDS to account – so if you agree with us that, He MUST ANSWER for the plethora of policies and reforms that have damaged our lives and been responsible for the Deaths of others; and If you believe He, is behind the raft of LIES spouted in the media…

JOIN US and make sure the TRUTH petition gains enough signatories to get noticed

Out of respect for you, I APOLOGISE in advance for my language because I’m LIVID

The ever excellent Benefits and Work website reveal welfare rights workers are experiencing DWP Decision-Makers calling up benefit claimants “‘in tears’ or ‘sobbing’“, pleading with them Not to appeal following a Mandatory Reconsideration !! HOW THE FUCK DARE THEY??

These unqualified low grade civil servants may well be genuinely feeling sorry for themselves, worried at how their bosses will react at their figures.. but, borrowing the much quoted line Frankly..I DON’T GIVE A DAMN.

If the Decision Maker truly feels sympathy for the vulnerable person who’s life they’re ruining, then they should do the decent thing and RESIGN and join the ever growing list of ‘Whistleblowers’, otherwise they have no right to attempt to push their agenda onto you or I. This behaviour is is keeping with the actions of their Bosses – we’ve witnessed plenty of pseudo-psychology tactics from the #DWP already and I can’t help feel this is yet another attempt to persuade us how to think?

IF anyone experiences this type of behaviour from a DWP employee I hope you’ll do one thing in return, Laugh and take tell them exactly how high to jump – and then APPEAL.

We’ve now suffered through the Lies from Esther McVey Wednesday 04 February 2015 9:30 AM on “benefit sanctions policy” , with her ‘assurances’ there are “categorically no targets set on how many claimants should be sanctioned”‘

Refuted yesterday offered more evidence that contradicts McVey with the DWP recruiting an extra 1600 Benefit Sanctions Decision Makers since taking office!; They support these statistics with the comment “Whilst the DWP continually says it has no Benefit Sanctions Targets, despite irrefutable evidence, this view now seems even more implausible since today it published statistics that it show they nearly trebled the number of sanction decision makers?”

Lets not forget All these #Sanctions are made by unqualified people ” there are no specific external qualifications required for the decision making role. All Decision Makers go through a training programme that supports the individual in their role. The Decision Maker consolidates this learning with mentor support” DWP February 3 2015.

#SanctionsCauseDEATH

SICK OF THIS SITUATION??? DEMAND #IDS ANSWERS FOR IT https://you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/investigate-ids-for-lies

In this my last post before the festivities kick in I want to take a look at a quick overview of the Truth Campaign and our reasons for pursuing it.

It all began on April 14 2013, when Debbie Sayers and I wrote an open letter, to Esther McVey regarding her persistent misuse of facts and statistics, we sent this with over 800 signatures, including 4 MPs, a month later. On the back of this, we started our first petition (27/5/13) to the Work & Pensions Committee demanding they :Hold IDS to account for his use of statistics.

We eventually received a response from the DWP correspondence team to our letter, which failed to even acknowledge the questions we had asked, but she did reply to Michael Meacher and Tim Loughton MPs, who had supported our letter with the same reply.

By June 12 our first petition had hit the magic 100,000 signatures, and between then and November, we played tag with IDS as he kept hiding from the Select Committee, missing him when we submitted our petition in November to Liz Kendall & Kate Green MPs; but eventually on December 11 2013 he ran out of excuses to attend.

After a long break, it was in May this year Debbie & I decided to start stage 2 of our campaign, particularly in response to the Governments response to the recommendations of 3rd report from Work & Pensions select committee – use of DWP statistics; and this determined our next steps.

As today sees the nights slowly begin to shorten again, and the festive season is here, with its expectations of happiness and hope; it seems an optimum time to revisit our journey so far. It is especially pertinent as these feelings are irreconcilable with the ever growing tales of horror, resulting from the DWP’s and indeed Governments false Austerity Agenda, and the ongoing persecution of the poorest, most vulnerable people in our society.

If you share our outrage at the injustices forced upon disabled, unemployed, vulnerable people, please sign, support and SHARE the story of the TRUTH Campaign and together in 2015 the people will Demand IDS is Investigated for his Lies and for the Damage done by them.

This is OUR Wish for Christmas, Yuletide and most importantly for Justice & TRUTH.

Here we go – the lead up to the last Tory Conference in this round of Government and the ‘big guns’ are blazing across the Tory press, making their pre-election ‘promises’/threats. Cameron in the Times states, he will cut a further 3,000 from the benefit cap reducing this to £23,000 & stopping all out of work benefits for anyone under 21, Grayling in the Telegraph is vowing to strip away the remainder of our Rights, with the shredding of the Human Rights Act; and then we come to IDS, who according to his latest delusions he is responsible for breaking up TV programmes!

IDS, relegated to the tabloids says his” DRASTIC curbs on welfare benefits are starting to break up Britain’s “Shameless” housing estates”; he justifies this by stating ” the proportion of people in social housing who do not work had fallen from just under 50 per cent in 2010 to 41 per cent”. Where IDS gets this data from is as usual a mystery, it may be based upon the the fact “The proportion of people in social housing has dropped from almost a third (31.4 per cent) in 1980 to one in seven today (16.8 per cent)“, which is in due to the scarcity of social housing rather than anything to do with benefits. Alternatively, it might be the reality a growing number of people are paying towards their Council Tax, albeit this was a response from Local Authorities to DWP Cuts, that aided him form his belief.

Continuing his chosen way of utilising personal creed rather than reality, IDS proudly quoting the fictional ‘Shameless’ & the much derided Benefits St TV programmes as his examples of ‘evidence’, continued to praise the Work Programme; claiming this has added to the ‘success’ of people leaving benefits. This is of course despite countless sources demonstrating the failure of this project, including the DWP themselves.

These messages all combine to indicate the speeches and associated media coverage over the next week will continue Lie about demonising the poorest and most vulnerable in society. To me this seems to be an enormous use of hype against 5.3 million working age benefit claimants, (excluding HB DWP Feb 2014), compared with the total number of people in this age bracket is 39.4 million. Further when we add the 4.9 million of Housing benefit claimants, this group also form a part of the ‘Hard Working People’ Cameron pledges to cut taxes for?

Is it any wonder we as dependants upon Social Security are angry? Every day across social media, people are talking about the injustice of this small minority of the UK being wrongly blamed for the ills of the nation because we are ill, disabled, unemployed etc, we’ve dealt with persistent Lies, and have even been called “Extremists” in Parliament! For me, it raises the question of exactly WHO DO the Tories, consider to be the greatest enemy of the Country?

Further to my post earlier this week, today another example of the most seriously ill disabled people being told they must attend work focussed interviews or else be sanctioned; never mind this is in direct conflict with the DWP’s own guidance which states :

“Support Group

If you have a condition that severely limits what you can do, you’ll be in the support group. You’ll not be expected to look for work and we won’t expect you to take place in any work-focussed interviews”.

How the DWP are going to Spin this is yet yo been seen; what I do know is this is yet another time this unelected Government has deliberately broke it’s own rules and then Lied about it!

This ongoing Discriniation against Disabled People is Totally Unacceptable & I can only hope people say ENOUGH

It is Time to Join the Truth Campaign and Sign the Petition to STOP The SPIN.

Thoughts on the crossroads of law, politics and society - for when 140 characters just won't do. This blog contains general information and commentary on legal matters. It is not intended to provide legal advice. This blog discusses the law in England, unless otherwise stated.